In recent years, there has been a surge in the use of ecoengineering products to enhance wildlife habitats in urban places. Concrete structures have been at the forefront of these innovations, offering a durable and cost-effective solution to the decline of natural habitats. Almost all of these so called ‘Hybrid Nature-Based Solutions’ on offer currently are manufactured using mass-production methods. As a result, there exists a common misconception relating to the question of mass-production vs handcrafted ecoengineering products.

While both mass-produced concrete products and handmade ones are readily available, we believe handcrafted concrete structures offer distinct advantages in terms of design complexity and ecological effectiveness. At Artecology, we specialise in creating handmade ecoengineering products that are customised to meet the specific needs of our clients and the wildlife they have been tasked to accommodate.

One of the key advantages of handcrafting concrete ecoengineering solutions is the ability to create super complex bioreceptive structures capable of maximising lifecycle resources for wildlife. For example, our artificial rock pools (Vertipools) and fish refuges (CoralPods) are designed with a kind of structure complexity, full of overhangs, nooks and crannies which provide shelter and breeding areas for a huge range of marine and intertidal life.

So how do we do it? It is our use of natural cement-based concrete which means that our products have a super fast-setting time. This means our overall manufacture speed is comparable to that of mass-produced products, so clients can enjoy the benefits of highly complex custom-made ecoengineering solutions at affordable prices without sacrificing the convenience of fast manufacture and delivery.

There is another aspect to handcrafted concrete products that we think is equally important. Our manufacturing techniques also offer the opportunity for training and job creation. At Artecology, we have a skilled team who have developed Artecology making techniques over decades of working with cementitious materials. We believe in providing job opportunities to local communities, helping to support economic health while also contributing to environmental conservation wealth.

Human hands and fingers are supremely well designed for making intricate objects with dexterity that will out-perform any multi-axis 3D printer or CNC machine and an ability to create patterns, textures and forms that could never be successfully pulled from a mould.

We firmly believe that crafted concrete ecoengineering products offer distinct advantages over mass-produced products. They allow for the creation of incredibly complex structures that maximise habitat resources for wildlife, they can be produced at a comparable speed to mass-produced products, and provide opportunities for job creation and training. See Artecology CoCreate™️

At Artecology we are committed to creating customised solutions that meet the specific needs of our clients whilst delivering the best hybrid nature-based solutions we possibly can, based first an foremost on top quality ecological functionality.

Quote Richard Lennon, pioneering reef designer and constructor since the early 1990’s -

“A key point that must be mentioned in my opinion and what I love about your work…..you do it with a consideration of aesthetics and natural beauty. You create habitat that has a more natural form and appearance showing respect for nature and softening the hugely unnatural manmade structures they are enhancing. You help put the ‘art’ into artificial habitats.”